A Century of French Verse. By William John Robertson. (A.
D. Innes and Co.)—Mr. Robertson begins with Andre Chinier (who does not belong to the century) and ends with Jean Monies, a Frenchman of Greek descent, who is attempting to revolu- tionise the technique of French poetry, dispensing, for instance. with the alternation of male and female rhymes. Some of the names are, we must own, entirely new to us. Of the better known we have Lamartine, Victor Hugo, Theophile Gautier, Leconte de Lisle, C. Baudelaire, Theodore de Banville, F. Coppee. and Paul Verlaine. Some of the pieces we should not have selected ; more than one of the authors we should have been inclined to banish. Mr. Robertson has a very pretty talent of versification, and has produced a number of pieces that read very easily. We do not find that he is very faithful, where we have had the opportunity of comparing his translations with the original. The preliminary essay on French verse is excellent.
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